Update on this:
Had surgery today, took about 45 minutes total. Five stitches. Hurts, but not too much worse than the biopsy. I can't really move my arm much yet without it bothering me though.
On the negative side, I haven't missed a softball game all year but missing one now. Our second playoff game too. Alas.

Had to endure a 3 hour meeting that was intended to be 30 minutes. It was me, my manager, and the EVP of our current project. This EVP is really, really senior in the organization and I always get nervous around him, but he's a really, really chill, funny, and laid back guy. He doesn't have that slight arrogance that senior leaders tend to have. So he's not as intimidating, as a result, and gets along famously with everybody.

Well, my manager and I go to his office to review my slides and it was supposed to be just a quick check-in so he could tell us what changes to make, etc. But.. the slides kind of get brushed aside and he and my manager start to just talk about our current project and how our client is yadda yadda yadda. Just, plain business talk. The biz talk went for like 1 hour, and then we started talking about costco for some reason and its business model.. but nothing too relevant to our current project. That lasted for an hour and thirty minutes. But the last thirty minutes were spent by me watching my manager and EVP argue about this inane business scenario. They go back and forth and back and forth and just keep going at it!! At first, it's kinda funny cause my EVP always jokes about how my manager is so argumentative, so it's a 'thing.'

After about 15 minutes of arguing, I start laughing at just how RIDICULOUS it is that they're still going at it and my EVP starts laughing too as he acknowledges the situation. Then all of a sudden.. my EVP's face turns red.. and then it turns white as if all the blood just drained from his face.. and he LOSES IT!

He just goes on a tirade of how argumentative my manager is... how he seriously will ruin his career if he makes a habit of arguing every single detail with senior leaders.. how they aren't even arguing, but actually fighting over stupid semantics and what-ifs.. and then he goes on to apologize to me for doing this in front of me, but he says, "it's actually good because you're always with ___(manager)____ when he's arguing with me and I don't want you to follow his example and think this kind of behavior is okay." So I just gulp, nod, and look at my slides while the EVP chews out my manager.

After being berated, my manager just says "OK. Duly noted." And the situation is so tense.. but the EVP cracks a joke to try to lighten the mood and we start to talk more about my slides.. We finished covering my slides within 10 minutes... which is what the entire meeting was actually intended for.. But anyway, there's clearly the elephant in the room of WTF just happened so I took my cue and left. I usually wait to leave with my manager after work, but I knew he'd want to stay back to talk about what just happened so I just made a quick exit. He and my EVP get along pretty well so it was kind of shocking to see such a chill, laid back dude just get pissed.

During the last 30 minutes, all I could think about how much I was craving In-N-Out and I told myself I was gonna buy two fucking animal style cheeseburgers, sans tomatoes, and eat them for dinner with a coke and some fries.

And I did do that. Just 5 minutes ago. Edited by GreenFrog - 8/7/12 at 6:57pm

if your manager is arguing semantics with a very senior person, then he's an idiot. and it really will hurt his career if he's constantly disruptive and argumentative. the EVP was doing him a favor by confronting him in a harsh but constructive way. many senior people would just let the meeting end, and just keep that memory in mind when it comes to promotions or plum assignments

GF, people in your group blow fuses like that, out of the blue? Wow, I'd be walking around on eggshells in an environment like that. I would have made it a food cheat night, too. I hope you really enjoy your meal.

if your manager is arguing semantics with a very senior person, then he's an idiot. and it really will hurt his career if he's constantly disruptive and argumentative. the EVP was doing him a favor by confronting him in a harsh but constructive way. many senior people would just let the meeting end, and just keep that memory in mind when it comes to promotions or plum assignments

To do it in front of one of the dude's reports seems out of order though.

if your manager is arguing semantics with a very senior person, then he's an idiot. and it really will hurt his career if he's constantly disruptive and argumentative. the EVP was doing him a favor by confronting him in a harsh but constructive way. many senior people would just let the meeting end, and just keep that memory in mind when it comes to promotions or plum assignments

Yeah.. he does it with everybody though and I don't think he knows he's doing it. He and I are pretty close but he's still senior to me and writes my project reviews, so I don't want to be the junior guy telling him to stop arguing all the time, lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayJay

GF, people in your group blow fuses like that, out of the blue? Wow, I'd be walking around on eggshells in an environment like that. I would have made it a food cheat night, too. I hope you really enjoy your meal.

Well, he didn't get as pissed as I portrayed in my writing but it was a very stern, serious talk. The shocker was just how the EVP actually got pissed because, as mentioned in my original post, he's a VERY laid back and jovial guy. He's just chill as fuck. But no, we don't have that kind of tense atmosphere/environment in our group